Impressions of Tunica

We are leaving Tunica tomorrow, for Lake Arkabutla, Mississippi, where another corps park is...We've enjoyed our stay in Tunica at the Hollywood Casino RV park. The Hollywood Casino itself is full of interesting movie memorabilia, including a sinking of the Titanic reproduction with the water, iceberg and all! There's a "Jaws" shark hanging over one of the bars,  and that cool car, the Cobra 45 Elvis Presley drove is displayed along with the DeLorean from the movie "Back to the Future", and the Batmobile. They even have a portion of the casino decorated with a movie set from Jurassic Park, with a real lagoon! It's pretty amazing what's inside these casinos besides the machines! If you stay at the Hollywood RV park, you can use the hotel facilities---the pool, the hot tub, the fitness room. We visited several casinos on a walk thru basically, and there certainly is lots to see and lots of food choices, some rather expensive, as you might expect. We ate at a beautiful restaurant called "37" in Harrah's, which offered a dinner special of great bread, a fabulous salad of greens w/ sugared walnuts and feta cheese, filet mignon with potato/vegetable garnish, a glass of wine, and creme brulee (my favorite) for dessert for $37.00 each. The meal was EXCELLENT! And so was the dessert, by the way....YUM!

We were really surprised at how spread out the casinos are, some are quite a drive from each other except for a pair here and there...Sam's Town Casino and the Hollywood Casino are right across the street from each other. You can take a shuttle from Harrah's to the other casinos if you want to. We tried the buffets a couple of times, they were all right, nothing outstanding.  Of course, a lot of fried food was on the menu! Never having seen the Mississippi Delta area, we were also surprised at how flat the land is, how much farm land there is, and the lack of buildings and structures in this part of the county along the Mississippi River. There are leavees everywhere with an average height of 40 feet...Of course, floods are not uncommon, so naturally there isn't going to be much development along the riverbanks.....duh, Jeannie!  But you can drive for miles and not see any houses or residences, that was different!

We didn't experience the three golf courses in the area, nor the blues music side of Mississippi...we were only in Tunica while here...we'll have to explore the Blues Trail next time---where "the music meets the soul" in the Mississippi Delta on Highway 61, America's Blues Highway. There are over 100 historical markers across the state. There are performance sites, gravesites, and birthplaces of some of the world's greatest musicians. We'd love to see that...we'd love to visit the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, and the Ground Zero Blues Club next time, a day trip away. So much to see, but it will have to be next time.......

So we're going to leave you today with a road trip song playlist that's perfect for this part of Mississippi, courtesy of the Tunica Visitor's Guide, since music is such a big part of the Mississippi Delta.....here it is: On the Road Again-Willie Nelson, The Race is On--George Jones, The Gambler--Kenny Rodgers, Good Luck Charm--Elvis Presley, Green Onions-Booker T and the MG's,  Crusin'-Smokey Robinson, Freeway of Love--Aretha Franklin, Low Rider--War, Fantastic Voyage--Lakeside, Life is a Highway--Rascal Flatts, Tumbling Dice--the Rolling Stones, Ramblin' Man--The Allman Brothers Band, Roadhouse Blues--The Doors, Back of a Car--Big Star,  Born to Run--Bruce Springsteen, Slow Ride--Foghat, The Passenger--Iggy Pop, Behind the Wheel--Depeche Mode,  Roam--the B-52's, and Every Day is a Winding Road--Sheryl Crow.....  See you tomorrow at Lake Arkabutla, MS.....

the main floor in Hollywood Casino